Love on the Battlefield
by StarStuffMadeAMermaidOutOfMe
Summary: The six teens battle in a game of weeklong "tag". Hiccup and Astrid are partners and during a week of only each others company in the middle of the woods, their relationship starts to change. But then they discover the forest holds a dark secret and they have to find a way to defeat it. They must stop it before it takes away everything they care about, including each other.
1. Missing Dragon

**So this is a story about my favorite animated movie. I must say i know this movie a little to well. So well infact I cannot watch it with any of my friends because I am that annoying person who says the lines out loud along with the characters on screen. Anyway I hope you like it. If you do, leave a comment telling me why you liked it. If you don't like it. Leave me a comment telling me why you don't. I hope you do like it though.**

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"How in Thor's name do you misplace a dragon!" the crazy blonde next to me asked, not really asking for an answer. Its funny. I remember asking myself the same question when I had first hit Toothless with my dragon capturing contraption. After searching for him for what felt like hours i had almost given up. Lucky enough a branch I had hit out of the way as i thought this came back and hit me in the face, pointing out Toothless's trail of distruction. Maybe it hadn't been so lucky,because that event is what caused the situation I am in now.

"Oh, I don't know Astrid. Maybe it's one of Gobber's Sock Trolls who decided he wanted more from life than a cave full of stolen left socks." i spat back. we where running for our lives although we where not in any real danger. "Maybe if you stop trying to blame everything on me, we could actually outrun Snotlout this time.

I guess you could call what we where doing "playing tag" if tag consisted of a week long match between three teams and each team had a dragon at there disposal. Then, yes, we where playing tag. "Why?" you may ask. Because the Winning team gets to sit by for a full year while the other teams get to alternate every week as the stable cleaners. the dragon stable cleaners. Dosn't sound to pleasant, right? Well it isn't. Trust me. I speak from experiance. Since the Viking and Dragon war has ended, my friends and i have been in charge of the dragons with a little help from Gobber, the blacksmith. He claims that because he only has two of his actual limbs left and is older than all of us, he dosn't have to do any of the dirty work. that means stable cleaning is left to us teens. Because our usual system for the cleaning schedule has failed multiple times, because we never really sat down to make one up, we decided that the only way to split up the work is to conduct a friendly ( and by friendly i maen by no means friendly) game of skills.

Thats how Astrid and I ended up running through the woods at full speed being presued by Snotlout and Ruffnut on Snotlout's dragon Hookfang. The best part (and by best i do mean the worst, sarcasm, you've got to love it) is that our only means of escape, my dragon Toothless, was nowhere to be found.

"This wouldn't of happened if we had used Stormfly. Unlike your dragon, she doesn't have the attention spand of Tuffnut."Astrid stated. She wasn't going to give up this fight anytime soon. Even if it meant losing the game.

"Oh, just keep running!" I sighed and we picked up speed. Thankfully the forest was very dense here so Snotlout and Ruffnut couldn't get a clear shot at us. Unfortunatly, it was also so dense that we couldnt see the cliff until we where almost right on it. Astrid had been in front of me and hadn't stopped quite soon enough. Her feet where right at the edge and she began to loose her balance and tottle forwards. I got to her right one time. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back from the edge just as she lost her footing.

"Let go of me! I had it covered!" she yelled at me as she pulled away from me. Just then, Hookfang made it over the trees and we could see Snotlout's and Ruffnut's victorious smirks on there faces.

"I was hoping my brother would lose first. but you to are such easy targets." Ruffnut chortled. "Out on the first day too. How sad."

"Yeah, like, we haden't even made it into the first ten minutes before we saw you too. It's like you're not even trying." Snotlout added. " Hookfang, hit them with all you're worth."

As the dragon prepared to fire, i saw a black shape streaking towards us at a breakneck speed. I knew what i had to do. "Well," I said, "not that we weren't having any fun but..." i grabbed Astrid around the waist again and jumped of the edge of the cliff.

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**Haha a literal cliff hanger...kind of**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. We Fight Because We Care (mostly)

**Hey. I was surprised to see how many people have already read this story. Because of this I am going to give you the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Before I get to it, I would like to ask for volunteers to be a beta reader for me. my spelling and grammar has never been the best so I would love for somebody to help me out with that part of the story. If you are interested, please leave a comment. So here is chapter two.**

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"Hiccup!"

****We where falling. Very fast, I might add. All of the sudden a feeling of dread fell over me. What if this didn't work? I had just jumped of a cliff and pulled one of my best friends with me, putting us both in danger. I hadn't thought about this plan not working when we where still on the cliff. I just hoped that my plan actually succeeded and that we both didn't get turned into pancakes instead.

Again i saw a black flash out of the corner of my eye and we suddenly stopped falling. Still holding on to Astrid, I looked up. "Wow, Bud, I was really doubting you for a moment there."

Toothless looked down at me, hanging below him by his claws, with an expression that said "Why would you ever doubt me?" he was right. He had always come through for me in the past. he had even saved my life a few times along the way. Why wouldn't i trust him?

He set us down lightly at the foot of the cliff, then landed next to us. I let go of Astrid, which turned out to be a mistake. She turned to me and promptly kicked me in the stomach. I doubled over in pain. Those dang boots she wears. I swear they are lined with metal.

" You idiot!" she screamed at me. "You almost got us killed. why would you through us over a cliff when you're stupid dragon wasn't in sight. What if he hadn't caught us? Huh? What would we have done then? Oh yeah, we would have DIED!"

"Well, thankfully he did catch us. he must have had trouble trying to get to us when we were surrounded by all of those trees. He probably saw us run into the clearing on the cliff and flew straight to us. I saw a black streak out of the corner of my eye and knew it was him. We where safe the entire time. I had it all under control." I replied.

"You didn't know it was him for sure. It could have been a black bird or something you saw."

"A black bird the size of a dragon? I don't think so."

"You never know. Must people don't believe dragons are real, but here we are standing next to one." she gestured to Toothless who was now rolling in the tall grass. "

"You are begin unreasonable. I just saved us from a years worth of shoveling dragon crap and your mad at me. Maybe I will just take Toothless and go defeat the other on my own." I began to walk off. " Come on Toothless. Lets go somewhere where we wont be harassed by a crazy woman."

"Harassed, my left foot. I will show you harassed!"

Just then, Hookfang swooped down and landed a few yards away from us. The two annoying teens where still on his back and still had devilish smirks on their faces.

"I told you they didn't die." Ruffnut grunted. "I guess we will have to do it ourselves."

"Ruff," Astrid stated. "We aren't actually trying to kill each other. We are just capturing the other teams before hey capture us. Then you have to take them back to the dragon arena form them to be out."

"Well," Ruff stopped advancing on us. " thats no fun. I wanted to try out my new hammer on you guys."

" What do you mean try it out? You have been hitting me with that thing all day. I swear I have a concussion or some form of brain damage because of that thing!" Snotlout yelled.

"No more than usual." Ruffnut responded.

"Hey i would have you know that my IQ is almost slightly below average." Snotlout stated.

"Snotlout, thats not a good thing." Astrid pointed out.

"Oh...well...at least I'm not a girl." He shot back.

"Hey!" Both females said defensively.

"I could beat you at anything anytime of day." Astrid bragged. Ruffnut just hit him in the head with her hammer again.

"OWWW! Will you quit doing that!?"

"Try to stop me." Ruff actually was a little surprised when Snotlout tackled her to the ground, but she just hit him with the hammer again. They started hitting and blocking and soon where in an all out brawl.

"Wait,let me get a little of that action." Astrid said, walking over to the fighting teammates and pulling out her knife. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. "Hey, let go!"

"If we leave now, while they are distracted, we can get a head start on them and they wont be able to follow us again." I said.

"But...I want to..." she said, looking back at the fight. "Oh, all right." we hopped on Toothless's back and he took off. The Battling pair still trying to kill each other left behind us.

"I hope they don't hurt each other to bad. his was just meant to be a friendly competition, not a full-out war." I said as I lost sight of the two.

"Where vikings. We don't do friendly. We fight. That's how you know we care."

"So our fight about the cliff was really our way of saying we care about each other?" I asked, a little more gleefully than i meant to.

She punched me in the arm. "Shut up you worthless son of a half-troll, rat-eating, munge-bucket."

I will take that as a yes.

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**Well, there you go. I hope you liked it. please leave me a comment. That way I know you guys re actually reading this. Also, like i said at the top. I would really like to have a Beta reader help me fix the spelling and grammar mistakes I know I have made, so please comment to volunteer. Thanks.**


	3. Tuffnut? Really?

**Hey to all of you out there reading this story. I can promise you that updates on this story will never happen this fast. Usually. I just have nothing else to do at the minute and am really interested in the fact that every time hit the refresh button the number of views keeps going up. I like that a lot. So I am still looking for Beta readers so keep the comments coming. Even if you don't want to beta read comment because I like knowing that there are actually people out there who will read something I write. Anyway, I hope you like it.**

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As we flew away from one team, we ran into the other. Well, we didn't actually run into them. In fact, they didn't even seem to notice us. They where sitting on logs around a tiny campfire, roasting fish.

"They have stopped searching already. That didn't last long." Astrid said from her spot on Toothless's back. We had landed in a tree and where just watching them while they cooked their fish.

"What did you expect. Its Fishleg's and Tuffnut. They don't exactly have drive." I stated. It was true. while the rest of us at least tried to participate, Tuffnut was to lazy and Fishleg's to afraid to do much.

"You do have a point, but i thought they would last at least until after sundown. I mean it is only the first day. We still have six and a half more to go."

"Maybe they are just stopping to make a plan, which, by the way, we still need to do." We had planned to use the first day to get as far away from the others as possible, but other than that, he had nothing.

"I might have believed that if Tuffnut had not just fallen of his stump. I think he is asleep." Astrid pointed out. Sure enough, there he was. Curled up in a ball on the ground. 'You know, now might be as good a time as any to attack. I mean with only Fishleg's conscious what is the worst they can do."

"I don't know. I think we might be better of if we stick to the "get as far away as possible" plan." I said. then I noticed something. "Where is Barf and Belch." This team seemed to be missing a dragon.

As if on que, the branch we where sitting in started to bend. we looked up and saw the Zippleback staring down at us with on head while the other head let out a strong roar.

"Get us out of here!" Astrid yelled as i heard Tuffnut tell Fishlegs "See I told you it would work." We had been tricked. Tricked by a plan that a guy with an even lower IQ than Snoutlout. How had this happened. I nudged Toothless in the sides to tell him to get us out of this mess. As soon as we took off, the branch that we had just been sitting on had caught fire. Seeing us take off, the Zippleback started to fly after us.

"Don't just leave you idiot, come get us." Tuff shouted from the ground. The Zippleback did a u- turn to pick up its riders. I saw my chance,

"Fast!" I told Toothless. "Just like in training. Fly as fast as you can." With a sudden burst of speed, Toothless took off. Being the fastest dragon in the group, he was already hard to keep up with, but at this newfound speed, it was impossible. The Zippleback never got the chance to follow us. by the time the boys had gotten on his back and he had taken off again, we where gone.

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**What do you mean this chapter was short. It wasn't short you just read it to fast...ok it was short. It had all the information that i was planning on putting into it though so you really are not missing anything. I hope you enjoyed it. And remember to comment.**


	4. Flying Fish to Frying Fish

**Here is the next chapter. I would like to thank my new Beta Reader Cke1st for helping me make this chapter as good as possible. So go ahead and read chapter four.**

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We flew around until well after sundown, looking for a safe place to make camp. It couldn't be somewhere easy to stumble upon and it had to be hidden well. After scouting out a few places, we finally found a spot far enough away from the others and secluded enough to hopefully keep us hidden.

"You set up camp and I'll go find some firewood." I said as I started off to hunt for wood dry enough to actually catch flame.

"No! No fires. Remember how easy it was to find Tuff and Fishlegs because of their fire? Of course it was a trap, but it was also in the middle of the day. It will be even more obvious for us to light one right now when it's dark," Astrid pointed out.

"We're far enough away from them for it to not be seen. Anyway, it's really cold and I'm hungry. Raw fish doesn't really agree with me." I started walking again. I hadn't gotten more than a few feet before I heard something go flying by my head and hit the tree in front of me. It was a knife. I've never seen Astrid with a knife; she always uses her axe. "Wow! If we fight because we care, you must really love me."

"No fire! End of subject." she steamed.

"Ahh. So you don't deny it." I said jokingly. I grabbed the knife and tried to pull it out of the trunk of the tree. It wouldn't budge. " You did not go easy with this did you? Really, Astrid, what did this tree do to you that made you want to hurl a knife at it?"

"Hiccup, be serious. Now come help me set up camp so we can come up with a plan."

"Fine, fine, no fire." I surrendered.

After looking around our campsite for a few minutes, Astrid spoke. "How exactly are we supposed to set up camp?"

"I thought you would know."

"Well, I don't, so come up with a plan." That's when I remembered that Astrid was about as much of a home maker as my father.

"Uhh, ok. Well, we need somewhere to sit."

"Sit! Yes! We need somewhere to sit," she said with a relieved tone. "How about that?" she asked, pointing at a fallen tree laying nearby.

"That will do." I said. "Hey, Bud, mind bringing that tree over here?" I asked Toothless, who had been watching us from on top of a rock near the tree. He picked the end up with his mouth and dragged it to the middle of the campsite. "Thanks."

"Ok, what's next?"

"So, now that we have the seating covered, we need ..." I thought, then said out loud, "We need somewhere to sleep."

"Oh, right, sleep is good." Why is it whenever the subject of sleep comes up between a guy and a girl, it gets awkward? "Maybe we could make mattresses out of leaves...or something?"

"Yeah, sounds good." We headed deeper into the woods to gather leaves and soon were heading back and forth to the campsite with armfuls of leaves. We spread them out until we both had our own makeshift mattresses. We stepped back to admire our handiwork.

"Not too shabby." Astrid said. I had to agree, they looked pretty comfortable, for a pile of leaves. But then I noticed something.

"Um, aren't they a little close together?" I hadn't thought about this while we were building them, but they where only about two feet in the dark with only the moonlight to see by, I could see her blush as I pointed this out.

"Let's not worry about that right now. We need to concentrate on coming up with a plan," she said, still blushing. " We also need to eat. Didn't you say you were hungry?"

We sat down on the log and grabbed the bag of fish we had brought along. While planning this game, we had discussed the whole finding-food-in-the-wild thing. Gobber had chimed in with a new invention he had been working on to try to double the amount of fish we catch in the village. He had created a net that you strap around the dragon's legs. Then they drag it behind them through the water as they fly. We agreed to test it for him this week, and so far, it had been very effective. We had to throw the majority of the fish Toothless had caught back because there were way too many to carry around with us. Gobber would get rave reviews when we got back.

"Well, how are we supposed to eat these if we can't cook them over a fire?" I said, just trying to annoy her.

She looked at me with a mischievous smile and a fish in her hand. This would be interesting. "Toothless!" she shouted as she threw the fish high into the air. From where he was dozing, Toothless sent a ball of fire right into the path of the flying fish, turning it into a frying fish. It fell back down and she caught it and handed it to me.

"Impressive." I said. Then " HOT, HOT,HOT!" It was scorching hot! I juggled it for a second, then just dropped it on the ground.

Astrid was laughing harder than I have ever seen her laugh. "What, do you not appreciate me cooking for you?"

"Yeah, that wasn't funny." I picked the fish up by its tail and threw it to Toothless. He swallowed it in one gulp. "I think you ruined my hands."

"You'll get over it," she said as she and Toothless roasted two more. This time she caught them and quickly placed them on plate-sized leaves . She handed me one. "I'm sorry. I saw my chance and I took it."

"Yeah, whatever," I said as I took a bit of my fish. I had to admit it was good. "So, what's the plan?"

"I say we wait to attack by night. Because of Toothless's ability to blend in with the night sky, we will go almost undetected. We can hide out during the day and outsmart them at night when they are tired from hunting all day."

"It kinda sounds a little cowardly. You know, hit them while they're down and all."

"Do you want to spend the next year cleaning up after dragons or not?"

"Of course I don't."

"Well then, my plan is how we will make sure we don't lose. It might be a low move, but I don't want to take any chances."

"It does sound like a good strategy. I guess I'm okay with it."

"Good," she said. "We start tomorrow night. Now, I'm tired and I am going to bed." She got up. "I suggest you do too. We've got to keep our strength up." I got up and followed her.

She really must have been tired because as soon as she lay down on her leaf mattress, she was asleep. Once I lay down, though, I was instantly reminded of how close we had put our beds together. We were so close that I could feel her breathing. But I figured that if it didn't bother her,it wouldn't bother me.

It would be a lie if I said I didn't enjoy it.

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**I hoped you liked it. If you did, please review. If you didn't, still review. Tell me what you didn't like so I can make future chapters better.**


	5. The Undead?

**Hey everyone! Here is chapter five. It's my longest one yet. Okay, so its only longer by a few words but they will keep getting longer. I want to say thank you to my Beta Reader Cke1st for making this story better. I hope you enjoy.**

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I was woken up by something heavy hitting me in the stomach. It didn't hit me hard enough to do any damage, but it did knock the wind out of me. I opened my eyes to see Toothless smiling down at me with a large toothless grin. His tail was laying across my torso right where I had been hit. "Why did you do that?" I asked breathlessly. Man, was his tail heavy. "Please get off of me before I suffocate." He did just that, then turned in a circle, sat down, and continued to stare at me with that stupid grin on his face. I sat up. "What the heck, Toothless?"

"Oh, good, you're up," said Astrid from her spot on the fallen tree bench we had made. She was sitting there sharpening her knife? What was with her and that knife. I hadn't seen her with it before yesterday. Now she never let it leave her sight. And here I was thinking that an axe was her weapon of choice.

"I thought we were planning on doing night attacks," I said as I stood up and brushed myself off. Sleeping on a mattress made out of leaves is a messy business.

"I couldn't sleep anymore. I have been up for almost two hours. I got bored, so I decided I would wake you up," she explained, still sharpening her knife.

"And you thought getting Toothless to hit me with his tail was the best way to wake me up?" I asked. She looked up from her knife and just smiled at me. It was a smile that said "Yes, exactly." It was also a very cute smile. I just shook my head."How did you get him to do that anyways? I didn't think you guys were exactly friendly."

"Two hours is plenty of time for bonding." Wonderful. My two best friends, whom I have wanted to get along for months, are now bonding. Too bad they are bonding over inflicting pain on me. " Now that you are up, we should come up with a plan that is a little more in-depth."

" What do you have in mind?" I said as I slouched over to my spot next to her on the tree. Thankfully she put her knife away as I came over.

" I was thinking we would go after Tuffnut and Fishlegs first. I mean, I know they tricked us yesterday with a surprisingly well-thought-through plan, but I still think they pose less of a threat," she reasoned. "I am guessing that they will spend most of the day searching for us and the other two, so it might take some time to find where they have set up camp. I'm guessing that they won't set up another fire, so we won't be able to find them that way again."

"It's Tuff and Fishlegs. I wouldn't give them that much credit," I added.

" If it was only Tuff, I wouldn't, but Fishlegs isn't as...well...slow as him. He might not be a great fighter, but he has probably read enough books to know that lighting a fire in the middle of the night is not a good way to hide," she explained. "Anyway, once we find them, which I still don't think will be too hard, I was thinking we could trap them."

"Isn't that the whole point of this competition? We trap the other teams, then take them back to town."

"Well, yes, but I mean we literally trap them. In a net. We can use Gobber's fishing net to trap them; that way it will be easier to fly them back to town."

" Good plan," I said. I had to admit , she was probably even more creative than me. "But how do we get them in the net?"

"We scare them," she said, as if that didn't need explaining. She looked at me and saw my questioning expression. " Do you remember the conversation we all had at dinner the other night? The one about the curse Fishlegs had read about?"

"The curse about the undead coming out of the ocean and eating all of Berk's citizens?" Supposedly, about one hundred years ago, a widow of a sailor from town put a curse on the whole island. When she had lost her husband in a shipwreck, she tried to raise him from the dead with a spell from a magic book she had found one day on the beach. When the townspeople found out she was trying to defy the gods by bringing her husband back, they exiled her. They didn't make her leave the actual island because they did feel bad for the poor woman, so they just told her never to come back to town. Little did they know that she had already cast the spell.

When they ran her out of town, they were stupid and didn't take away her magic book. She had supposedly been sitting on a beach on the opposite end of the island when her drowned husband came out of the water. I don't think he looked much like her husband then. Usually, a few days under water is enough to change anyone's appearance. Apparently, she freaked out and ended up killing herself out of fear. Her husband thought she had been driven crazy by the townsfolk and became very angry. He found her magic book which had a marker on the page with the spell that brought him back from the dead. To get revenge on the townsfolk for driving his wife to her death, he brought back all the sailors who had been on the same shipwreck he had died in. Soon, they all came out of the ocean and set off to town. The legend says that they attacked the town and at all of the citizens of Berk. And supposedly, they would return every one hundred years to do the same, or so the legend says.

After Fishlegs had told us the legend, he obviously suspected us to freak out. Needless to say we didn't. "Don't you guys realize that the one hundred years is almost up? We don't have long before they come back and kill all of us!" he said hysterically.

"Don't you think that if every one in Berk had been killed one hundred years ago, it would be kind of impossible for us all to be here?" Ruffnut had asked.

"Maybe a few people survived. That's why we know about it," Fishlegs argued."

"But wouldn't we have heard about this terrible attack before right now?" Astrid said.

"We don't know. The grown-ups might not want us to know. Maybe they are keeping it a secret so we don't get scared," Fishlegs added.

"Yes, they don't want us to get , we fought blood thirsty monsters everyday for our whole lives. That is before we discovered they weren't so blood thirsty," I said. "Some how I don't think they care about if we are scared or not. Fishlegs, it's just a stupid legend. We are not going to get attacked by the undead."

"You guys just don't get it. But when the undead start attacking, don't say I didn't warn you," he said as he got up and left the great hall. The rest of us were laughing about that conversation days later. Fishlegs, not so much.

"Yes," said Astrid. "That curse. Well, I was thinking we could collect a bunch of twigs and leaves in the forest and cover ourselves in those and a bunch of mud. Then, we could walk into their camp like we are undead and scare the crud right out of them. We could lay the trap in the woods not far away and chase them right into it. It will be easy."

"Just like herding sheep."

"Exactly."

"Let's get started."

I was wrong. She is definitely more creative than me, hands down.

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**I hope you liked it. If you did, PLEASE review. Each review means so much to me and encourages me to write more.**


	6. Carnivorous Forest

**Hey Readers. So I need to write a bit of an author's note before tis story. I needed to get this post up as soon as possible because I am going out of town soon and I don't Know if I will have internet access. That means that my lovely Beta Reader Cke1st hasn't gotten to read over it yet. I promise you that there will be mistakes. If this will bother you then wait for when I post the corrected copy which will do as soon as it becomes possible. Also I have to warn you, I kind of ventured away from the original plot I had in my mind. Some new things will be happening in this chapter that I hadn't originally planned but I think they are good things. My plot has changed from just being useless fluffy stuff to an adventure. I do hope you like these new additions and ensure you that it will make this little story better than I had planned it to be when I started writing.**

**Now read on for a good plot twist! I hope you like it.**

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We headed off into the woods like we did last night when we searched for the leaves we made our beds out of. I hadn't noticed last night how dark this part of the forest was. Everything had been dark last night, so the gloominess of the wood hadn't been too obvious. In broad daylight, though, I couldn't help but notice how ominous this area was. The trees where covered in a dark greenish-brown moss that hung down from the branches into our path. The ground was covered in dead leaves and more of the moss. Sunlight was having a hard time getting through the high tree branches, and the little bit that could get through cast strangely shaped shadows everywhere. The trees were so dense that I was afraid that if I looked away for a second, Astrid would disappear behind one and I wouldn't be able to find her. Because of this, we stuck close together and paid close attention to where we walked.

"How did we not get lost in this last night?" I asked. "I don't remember it being this dark last night." I was thankful at this moment that Astrid didn't wear dark colors like the rest of us. She had on her normal blue shirt and red skirt so she didn't blend into the forest, like I did sure I was in my green and brown clothes.

"I don't remember this either. Maybe we should turn around. We might not be able to find our way out if we keep going," she said as she swatted some hanging moss out of our path. From where we stood, we could barely see light from the clearing we had slept in. "This stuff is disgusting," she continued, still trying to hit the curtain of moss out of the way.

"That might actually be useful. Hey, can I borrow your knife?" I had an idea.

She pulled the knife out of its holder she had wrapped around her waist and handed it to me, handle first. I grabbed the moss and started cutting it of the branch it was hanging from. It didn't take me very long because Astrid had been resharpening it when I woke up. Once I had cut it free, I threw the mass of moss over my shoulder. It was a lot heaver than I thought it would be.

"Let's head out," I said. We trudged back to the campsite. Astrid gathered more twigs and leaves on our way out. We reached the edge of the clearing and dropped our collection of filth on the ground. Other than the curtain of moss and the few twigs we had gathered, we didn't have much.

"So, what is the moss for?" Astrid asked. She looked like it grossed her out a lot. I couldn't blame her for her disgust. The stuff did have a strange gooey texture and it had left a mess on my shoulder where I had carried it. I could already tell she would not like my plan.

"We are supposed to look like the undead, right?" I asked, not really looking for an answer. " Well, if we want them to believe we are drowned sailors and not just the two of us covered in mud, they can't see our clothes. We can cover them with this. It looks like the algae that grows on sunken boats anyways."

"You want us to wear this?" she asked with a shock. "No, no, no. I am not wearing that."

"If you don't, the plan won't work," I said. This is why I had let her come up with the attack plan. I have good ideas, but she likes to be in control. I usually let her be, but this time I knew this was the only way the plan would work. "We have to."

I could tell she was not happy but she agreed to it anyway. "You work on making our dead sailor outfits while I go back in the woods and find more things to cover ourselves in," she said, heading back in.

"I don't think going in there alone is a great idea. If you get lost, then we're both on our own. I think we should stay together."

" But if we split up, we will save more time," she tried to reason.

"Then let me go in the woods," I said. "You stay here and make the outfits."

"But you're the one who spends his time making outfits, remember?" she said, bringing up an excuse I had used while trying to keep Toothless a secret. "I will stay close. Don't worry. And here, use my knife to cut up the moss. I saw how well it cut it down from the tree." See, she likes to do things her way.

"Fine, just stay close." I gave up. She walked into the dark woods without looking back.

I set to work on the "sailor outfits". I have always been strangely good at making stuff like this. I was never taught how to sew, but it just came naturally. I've made saddles for Toothless and all the other dragons and created my security harness, all by hand. I also patch up my clothes, my dad's clothes and even Gobber's clothes when they get worn out. It's just something I'm good at.

Man, I sound like a wimp. At least I have the cool factor of training dragons to even it out.

The moss was starting to look like something you could wear. Honestly, they looked like dresses, but at least they would cover our clothes. I didn't have anything to sew with, so I cut slits down the sides of them and tied them together. Once they where done, they looked pretty good. I mean, good for moss dresses. I laid them on our fallen tree so that they wouldn't get dirty (which I now realize was stupid) and noticed that Astrid wasn't back yet. That worried me. I had been working for about an hour or so and she should have been back by now. I looked over at Toothless, who was sleeping on a rock about twenty feet away. "Have you seen her, Bud?" I asked him. He looked up at me and then looked at the edge of the woods. We both searched for a sign of her but we didn't find one. "I thought we agreed that she would stay close. You stay here, Toothless. I'll go look for her." He got up and walked past me towards the forest. "No, Bud. You are too big to get through there. You have to stay here." He looked at me with a frustrated face. "What if she comes back and we are both gone? You have to stay here incase that happens." He did not look pleased, but he sat down and watched me walk into the woods.

"Astrid?" I yelled. "Astrid, can you hear me?" No answer.

I walked deeper into the forest. I was really worried now. She might not always be the nicest to me, but it was not like her to break a promise. She had promised me that she would not wander off alone. The fact that she had could only mean that something had happened. Why hadn't I made her wait for me. Why had I let her go in here without her knife? Why hadn't I told her no and not let her talk me out of it? Now she might be in danger and it was all my fault.

"Astrid!" I yelled again as I started to run. I had to find her.

The trees flew past me as I ran, still calling her name. The forest kept getting darker and darker. I tripped a few times over tree roots that were sticking out of the ground, but I kept going. I looked behind me and could no longer see any light from our clearing. So much for not getting lost. It didn't matter now. I didn't care anymore.

All of the sudden I saw light up ahead. It was another clearing. I ran out from between the trees and blinked in the bright sunlight. Once I could see again, my heart stopped.

My mind couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. There were bones. A lot of bones. Dragon bones. And not just bones; there were newer dragons two. Some looked like that had just died while some were decomposing. It was the most terrible thing I have ever seen. There had to be at least fifty dead dragons in this clearing. What had happened?

Then I noticed something. They were all covered in something that looked like rope. I walked closer to one of the skeletons and saw that they were actually vines. They were sprouting up out of the ground around the bones. They were wrapped around the bones so tightly that they were crushing them. I didn't understand. What was happening in this place?

That's when I saw it. The skeleton that I had examined was on a small hill which gave me a better view of they\ dragon graveyard. Her blue shirt stuck out against our mostly brown surroundings. Thank Thor!

"Astrid!" I yelled while I ran towards her. She looked up at me. She was sitting next to one of the newer dragons that I swear looked like it was still alive. It was a Nadder, like Astrid's dragon Stormfly, but this one was purple. As I reached her, I realized that she was crying. I kneeled down next to her and hugged her. Even though she was crying, she she didn't look hurt, thank Thor. "Why are you here?" I asked her. She was crying into my shoulder now, harder than I have ever seen her cry. Wait, I've never seen her cry. "How did you find this?"

She looked up at me. Her eyes were very red. "I was walking in the woods near the clearing, at least clear enough to see some light from the clearing, and I heard a noise," she sobbed. "It sounded like Stormfly. It sounded like she was in pain. I followed the sound through the forest and eventually got here. I saw this Nadder struggling in these vines and I rushed over to her. Then more sprang up and wrapped around it. They pulled it to the ground and then started constricting. It couldn't breathe. I tried to free it but the vines were too strong. And then..." she put her head back on my shoulder and cried even harder. I knew the end of the story without her telling me. The vines had killed the dragon. They had killed all of the dragons in this clearing.

"What is this place? What's going on?" she asked.

I looked around. These monster vines here killing dragons. It reminded me of this plant that a trader had brought to us from some strange land. It was called a Venus' fly trap and it had a kind of mouth instead of a flower on top of its stem. Unlike other plants, it didn't live off food and sunlight only. It ate bugs too. they would fly right into its mouth and it would close on them, eating them whole. The trader said that it was a carnivorous plant, a plant that needed meat to survive.

"I think this forest might be carnivorous," I said. "It's using the dragons as food. It captures them and slowly eats them." She looked at me in horror. I hoped I was wrong, but something deep inside me told me I was absolutely right. I think Astrid knew it too.

"We have to find the others," she said with a panicked voice.

"Yeah, we..." My blood turned to ice as I realized something. "We have to get to Toothless!"

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**So what did you think? Do you like the new direction I am headed in. If you do, Please review and reassure me that I am not crazy believing that this is a good direction for my story to be heading in. If you didn't like it, please tell me too. I really hope you liked it and keep coming back for more. THANK YOU!**


	7. Contact

**Hey Reader's! Sorry for the long wait. I was on vacation and didn't have time to write this next chapter. But here it is, bright and shiny and new. I was glad to hear in your comments that you guys like where the story is going. I think that because my original summary doesn't really work anymore that I would rewrite it. So if you notice it has a different summary than before, don't worry, it's the same story. **

**Both this chapter and chapter 6 are now edited.**

**Now go on, read chapter 7!**

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We left the dragon graveyard in the dust. So many things ran through my head as we ran back into the forest. What was going on? Why was this all happening? What was causing these vines to kill all of those dragons? While I wanted to figure out all the answers to these questions that kept popping up in my head, my top priority was to get to Toothless before anything happened to him. Hopefully, nothing had happened to him already.

Even though we needed to move as fast as possible to get to our campsite, I never let go of Astrid. Thinking that I had lost her before was enough to make me be sure that I never lost her again. Making sure that she was in sight wasn't enough anymore. I had to feel her hand in mine to assure me that nothing had happened to her. She was still crying slightly. She also seemed to not be completely conscious of the fact that we had left the graveyard and were running through the woods. If I hadn't been holding her hand, half pulling her behind me, I don't think she would have left her spot next to the dead Nadder. She kept stumbling over roots and rocks in the ground which made our progress through the forest a lot slower. I wanted to stop running and comfort her. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay. I couldn't do that, though. Partly because we had to get to my dragon and partly because I didn't know if everything would be okay.

"Astrid, I know this is bad, but we have to run faster." She responded by using a quick burst of speed to catch up to me. Now that she was running next to me and not being dragged behind, our speed almost doubled. It also gave me a clearer view of her. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen from crying. It's amazing how un-Astrid-like this made her look. She was usually so tough. Life as a viking is not very pleasant. It comes with its share of scars, concussions, and, until recently, lots and lots of serious burns. But through all of that, I had never seen Astrid get fazed by the impending danger of our occupation. Even throughout dragon training, when it was almost mandatory to get the crud beaten out of you all day, she never even flinched. I think her fearlessness was the thing that made me like her as much as I do.

Before everything happened, what with the dragons and all, when I had only been admiring her from a distance, her bravery had been the one thing that really stuck out to me. Of course she is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, but I mostly admired the way she was always up for a challenge. Her courage mirrored that of a much older and more experienced Viking, like my dad. Not that she reminds me of my dad or anything. That would be _very_ strange. Anyway, the way she was always ready to charge into battle was inspiring and showed that she has the true Viking spirit we all strive for.

Seeing her the way she was now made me very nervous. If this is how Astrid, the toughest Viking I know, responded to this disaster, how was everyone else going to handle it? Honestly, the only reason I think I was still going is because I couldn't let anything happen to Astrid or Toothless. I had to be strong for us all.

We finally reached the clearing where I left Toothless. Where was he? I couldn't see him. I skidded to a halt. Astrid didn't stop as cleanly as I did so I reached out and caught her. "Astrid, I don't see him," I said pulling her towards me. "TOOTHLESS!" I yelled as loud as I could. I held my breath. He had to be here. If something had happened to him, I don't...

A black, feline-like head popped up from behind a boulder. "Toothless!" I yelled for a completely different reason.

He looked at me with his big toothless grin. Then he seemed to notice Astrid, who I was still holding on to. He ran over to us with a worried expression on his face. "It's okay, Bud," I told him, even though it really was not. "We just need to get out of here as fast as we can and get to the others." He seemed to understand me because he rushed over to where his saddle was sitting on the log. I let go of Astrid so that I could put it on him, but she grabbed my arm and followed me over to Toothless and didn't let go while I put it on. It made it harder to saddle him up with her holding on to me,but I didn't mind. She obviously needed to hold on to me as much as I needed to keep her close. As soon as I finished with the saddle, she let go so I could jump on. I reached down and helped pull her up. As soon as she was on, she wrapped her arms around my torso and rested her head on my shoulder. I could get used to this close contact. I just wish it wasn't because we had both witnessed something terrible.

Toothless took off as fast as he could. I could tell that he picked up on the urgency in my voice and knew how important it was for us to hurry. Soon we were soaring over the tree tops. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of the others. It shouldn't be to hard to find them.

"There!" Astrid said. We had been flying for about ten minutes before she spotted Hookfang's silhouette against the setting sun. Toothless picked up speed and we shot in his direction. It didn't take long for them to see us. They picked up speed and started flying in the opposite direction. "They think we're chasing them." I could barely hear her over the wind rushing past my ears.

"This is supposed to be a game. We have to find a way to tell them that we aren't playing anymore." I had no clue how we where going to pull that off.

Toothless must have sensed how desperate I was and decided to take matters into his own hands. Claws? Oh, you know what I mean. He shot a stream of fire into the air. It burned blue and put off an intense heat. He then stopped breathing fire and just floated in mid air, staying in the same place. I looked up ahead and it looked like Hookfang had stopped flying. "I think you got his attention, Bud. Try the fire again," I told Toothless. He did what I told him, but this time the fire was almost white and hotter then before. This time it worked. Hookfang's silhouette was getting bigger and bigger. A few moments later and we were looking at the confused faces of Snotlout and Ruffnut.

"Why aren't you chasing us? Isn't that the whole point of the game?" Ruffnut asked with an annoyed voice.

"And what's with the light show?" Snotlout seemed amused. "Were you trying surrender or entertain us?"

"Hey, whats wrong with her?" Ruffnut asked pointing at Astrid behind me. I looked back at her. She had stopped crying a while back and her face was less red, but she still didn't look like the tough Astrid we were all used too.

"No time to explain," I said. "Something is wrong. We need to find Tuff and Fishleg's, fast!"

They both seemed to realize that I wasn't joking pretty quickly. "What's going on?" Snotlout asked.

"Like I told you, no time to explain. Just help us find the other two, and don't land. When we find them, we will meet up on the beach near the cliffs. It will go faster if we split up..."

"No," said Astrid. "We don't split up. Splitting up is never a good idea. Strength is in numbers, as Stoick always says." I looked at her. She looked back at me and said, softly so that only I could hear, "Please, don't make us split up." I could tell that she was really worried and decided to let her make the call.

"Okay, so we stay together. Let's find the others and get to the beach. We should be safe there. then we will fill you in on whats going on." We started flying again. The sun had almost set and I felt like the dark was creeping up on us. I reached down and grabbed Astrid's hand. I squeezed it as I asked, "You okay? I didn't know that suggesting splitting up would freak you out that much."

"When we split up back at the campsite, something really bad happened," she said. "I didn't want something else to go wrong."

Although I could see reason in this reply, I felt that she was hiding something from me. I knew that if she was that it was for a good reason, and that she would tell me when she was ready. It still bothered me, though. Had something worse happened while she was off on her own? Was there more to her story than what she had told me? I decided to just let it go for now. I had to focus on finding Tuffnut and Fishlegs before something happened to them.

As we flew, I kept holding on to her hand. I didn't intend to let go anytime soon.

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**Sorry that my updates are so short. I am new at the mass writing thing and am very slow. Also, you may have noticed Astrid is...well...Out of character is a good way to put it. Don't worry, she is going to be back to normal next chapter. She is just a little (or a lot) shook up.**

**Thanks again to my fabulous Beta Reader Cke1st!**


	8. Missing Person

**_Hey! Long time, no update, right? I am so sorry for the wait, but what can I say, the creative juices just weren't flowing. The errors have now been fixed, thanks to my Beta Reader Cke1st. Thanks for reading!_**

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After searching for what felt like hours, even though it was probably more like a few minutes, we found the other two. Thankfully, they were already on Belch and Barf, each of them sitting on one of the dragon's heads. Because they were already in the air, that meant that we did not have to risk landing. Even though the dragon eating-vines had only seemed to be in the one clearing, I wasn't going to risk the chance that they had spread. Landing anywhere in the proximity of the forest just wasn't a good idea at the moment. Because the beach was next to a cliff and, therefore, not directly next to the forest, I believed it would be a safe place for Astrid and I to fill in the others on this disaster.

We tried waving down Fishlegs and Tuffnut. Just like when we had first seen Snotlout and Ruffnut, it took a while to convince the other two that we were not going to ambush them. After a lot of signaling, and a lot of confused looks from the two of them, they must have realized what we soon as they understood that we were not a threat, they followed us to the beach.

I picked out a spot that was the farthest away from the trees. All I could see from here was the tops of only the tallest trees in the forest. I hopped off of Toothless and reached up to help Astrid, but she had already gotten off and was standing next to me. I studied her for a second and noticed that her face didn't show any sign of crying anymore. She looked like herself again. Almost. She looked at me and I saw something in her eyes. Something that she obviously didn't want me to see, because as soon as I saw it, she turned her back to me and walked over to where the others had landed.

"So why did you bring us here? Why are we standing here talking when we could be back in the woods tearing each other apart?" Ruffnut asked intensley.

"Ruff, your violent tendencies really worry me," said Astrid. "Remember, it's just a game."

"Yeah, a game that we should be playing right now. Come on, let's get back in there." Snotlout started to get back on his dragon, but Astrid ran after him. She jumped up after him and grabbed him by the ear. "Oww! Astrid, stop it. Let go. OWWW. In Thor's name, please let go!"

After she had pulled him back over to the rest of us, she let go of his ear. He stumbled to his feet and ran to stand behind the twins. They both jumped into fighting poses to protect the scared Viking behind them.

"No one is going back into that forest!"Astrid used her authoritative voice to get the point across. "It's way too dangerous now."

"What do you mean it's "way too dangerous?" Fishlegs asked. "Oh, my gosh! The zombies have finally come and you found their secret hide-out. They are going to attack the village. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Fishlegs had gone into a frenzy. He had fallen to his knees and was shaking his fists at the sky. This was obviously going to take a while.

"Fishlegs! Pull yourself together!" I walked over to him to help him up. "Zombies have not taken over the forest," I said as I pulled him up.

"Not yet," he mumbled under his breath. I turned to glare at him but he turned away and looked up at the sky.

"No, it's not zombies that are the danger," Astrid started. "I don't even know if we are the ones in danger. Our dragons are the ones we need to keep out of the forest. There is something in there that...it..." she couldn't finish.

I walked over to here and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked down at the ground. "We found a clearing near our campsite that seemed to be some kind of dragon graveyard. There were dragon bodies and skeletons everywhere. They were wrapped in vines that had come out of the ground and, as far as we can tell, grabbed the dragons out of the sky. We think that it works like one of those plants that the trader brought here a few months ago. You know, the one that caught flies and ate them. It's like the forest has turned carnivorous. It's eating the dragons."

"Wait, wait,wait," Tuffnut said with a confused look. "We have all been flying around this forest for a whole day and the rest of us haven't seen anything dangerous that wasn't me. Are we supposed to believe something so insane that you don't have any evidence to prove? I think that you guys have just tried to come up with a clever plan to get us all together so that you could trap us and win this thing. Well, I'll let you know that you have to be a lot smarter to trick me." He was beaming. I seriously think he expected some one to give him an award or something. I think Astrid gave him something even better. She walked up to him and took off his helmet very gently. She grinned at him; he grinned at her. She breathed on it to fog up the metal and then polished it with her elbow. He kept grinning. Then she grabbed it by the horns and hit him hard over the head with it. He went down, hard. "Ouch," he said from his spot on the ground. The grin was still on his face.

"Anyone else have any theories?" Astrid asked while she put Tuff's helmet on her head. They all backed up a few steps. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other." Well, I guess Astrid is back.

I walked up to her and took the helmet off her head. "Maybe I should hold on to this." She gave me a death glare but didn't fight back. "Listen, we are not trying to trick you guys. We seriously need to warn the others about this. I don't know how far this thing has spread. It seemed to be only in that one clearing, but I don't want to take any chances."

"Well, lets get going," Snotlout said. "If we get back to Berk now, Stoick and the others will take care of this problem fast and we can get back out here and find out who gets stuck with stable duty."

"I agree that we need to get back fast, but I don't think flying at night is the best idea. From my experience, night flying is almost never a good idea. Also, even if we get there tonight, there is nothing we can do while it's dark. I say we camp out here and leave in the morning. There is less risk in that." I didn't want to put anyone in anymore danger than we were already in.

We all agreed that this was the best plan and decided to settle in for the night. Because the game had been "Paused" ( the only way we could get Tuffnut to agree to believe us was to officially pause the game), we could light a fire without fear, so I set to that task. I found some drift wood that had washed up on the beach that was dry enough to catch fire. Once I got a solid flame, I sat down and watched it for a while. Snotlout was in charge of catching fish for dinner. We had left our net at the campsite when we had left in a hurry and the others had left them at their campsites as well, so all he had was a stick with a knife on the end of it to fish with. He had been at it for about thirty minutes so far and had already caught one. At this rate, we would have enough fish for all of us plus our dragons in about eight hours. And that's only if we were lucky.

While watching the fire and listening to my stomach growl, I hardly noticed Astrid silently walk up behind me. "Hiccup?" she said quietly.

"Hey, what's up?" She came and sat down next to me. She wouldn't look at me, she just stared straight at the fire.

"I need to tell you something," she said.

"Are you going to tell me what it is that is bothering you?" She looked nervous. I watched as she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on them.

"Hiccup, when I was in the clearing, before you found me, I...I think I saw something."

"You saw something? What do you mean?"

"I...I mean I think I saw something. Or someone."

"Someone was there. In a clearing full of dead dragons in the middle of the forest. Are you sure?" She nodded. "How could there be some one out there? That doesn't make any sense."

"The strangest part is that I knew who it was."

"Was it someone from Berk?" Again, she nodded. "Who?" Her eyes started to water again and she buried her head in her hands. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to comfort her. For a second we just sat there like that; then she looked at me for the first time.

She looked me right in the eye and, through her tears she said, "Hiccup, I think it was your mother."

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**So, did you like it. I hope you did! I couldn't remember if they had said what happened to his mom in the movie. If you know, please tell me so that I can explain what has happened to her. Thank you all! Please review! Also, has anyone else seen the new trailer for How to Train Your Dragon 2. It looks AMAZING!**


	9. Mother?

**Hey Readers! Every time I open one of these with that greeting, I lose a little part of my mind. I just don't know how else to open them. I guess it will have to stay. **

**Unlike my recent updates, my Beta Reader Cke1st has all ready edited this chapter. YAAAAY. **

**I hope you like this chapter. I know I asked for you guys to give me information about how Hiccup's mother died in the book/movie, but I decided to create a whole knew scenario. Thanks to Hydroknight12 for telling me how it happened anyways in the reviews. Its really nice to be able to ask you guys for information and actually receive it. Also, I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has read my little story so far. You guys rock!**

**I would also like a cover picture (Or whatever they are called on here) for this story. If any of you have an idea, please tell me!  
**

**Anyways, without further ado, chapter 9.**

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I didn't know what to say. My mother? Astrid thinks she saw my mother in the dragon graveyard? That wasn't possible. My mother had died when I was a baby. There was no way she could be walking around in the woods.

From what my dad had told me, she was very brave. She went with my dad on all of his quests in search for the dragon's nest. The only time she ever missed one was when she was pregnant with me. She returned to the search soon after I was born, and that's when it happened.

She was on a ship with my father and about twelve other Vikings. My father, at the time, believed he was closer to finding the nest than ever before. They were searching in a part of the ocean that no Viking had ever sailed to. It was not too far from Berk, actually, but it was said to be a dangerous area. It's said that the water in the area never moves. Unlike the rest of the ocean, where waves rolled constantly, there was absolutely no movement in the water for what seems like miles. I guess you can say we were unsettled by how settled the water was.

My father, being the chief and all, decided that they had to search the whole ocean if they had any chance of finding the nest. He forgot about how ominous that area was and believed that that previously unexplored part of the ocean was the best place to look. He ordered the ship to be steered into the calm water, ignoring the other Vikings words of warning. "Odin," my dad would say when he talked about the others begging him not to make them sail into such a bad place, "I should have listened to them."

As soon as their ship hit the calm water, a thick fog moved in and surrounded them. "I could hardly see my own arm, much less the others." Apparently he had tried to find my mother in the cloud, but before he could, he heard a scream. Her scream. He raced to where he thought it had come from, but it was too late. She was gone. All he could see was a large dorsal fin of some kind of water dragon swimming away from the ship. Apparently, he had tried to jump in after it, but the others held him back. "It took all twelve of them to hold me back," he would say. Apparently, the fog cleared soon after and, ignoring my father's orders, the others turned the ship around and sailed back to Berk.

"I thank Thor every day that those brave Vikings didn't let me jump in after her," my dad would say after telling me this story. "If they hadn't, there would have been a small boy back in Berk who was missing both of his parents to raise him. Even though we lost your mother that day, I never let that get in the way of you growing up to be a great Viking." I could tell he missed her more than he let on. I missed her too, but it was different for me. I was so young when she died that I have no personal memories of her. All I have to serve as a memory of her is my helmet that was made out of her, um, breast plate, and the portrait of her that my dad had hung in the great hall in her memory. Even so, I missed her very, very much.

"I recognized her from the portrait of her that hangs in the Great hall; she even had the same clothes on. Hiccup, I know it seems impossible, but I swear in Odin's name, it was her." Astrid said this in a gentle voice. I stood up and walked away from the fire towards the cliffs. I reached them and leaned against them. None of this was making sense. She couldn't be alive. She was killed so long ago. There was no way.

Astrid walked up to me slowly. I must have looked bad because she had a scared look on her face. The others must have noticed something was up too, because they had all come over and were all standing behind her.

All of the sudden I felt dizzy. The last time I had felt like this was the first time I woke up after I defeated the Green Death. That was when I discovered I had lost part of my leg in the battle. I remember the whole room went blurry and I had to steady my breathing for a second before everything went back to normal. I've heard that shock will do that to you sometimes. I guess Astrid saw that I was unsteady because suddenly she had her arms wrapped around me to support me. Even though the effects of her touch usually caused me to get a little dizzy, this time it was calming. I regained some of my balance and hugged her back, pulling her closer to me. "Hiccup, I'm so sorry."

"What if it was her, Astrid? What if you really saw my mom in the clearing? What if she really is alive?" I said all of this without letting go of her. I felt that if I let go, I would lose consciousness, or my lunch.

"What's going on? " one of the others asked, I couldn't tell who. Astrid turned her head and shushed whoever it was and then turned back to me. "Hiccup, I don't know what else to say. I told you what I saw. I don't no anything else. All I know is that I saw her." My head was swimming. "Hiccup, I know that this is a lot to take in and it must be hard for you. How about we roast the fish that Snotlout caught, you eat it, and then you get some sleep. I think we will all be able to think better in the morning and then we can make sense of it all." I seriously doubted that any of this would ever make sense. I didn't argue, though. The sooner we all ate and went to bed meant that the village would be warned sooner and the problem could be dealt with sooner.

It also meant I could sneak away sooner to get back to that terrible clearing and find my mother.

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**So, did you guys like it. I hope you did! I know I left it at kind of a big cliff hanger (as I always do), sorry for that. Just so you know, the way to get me to upload faster is by giving this story lots of reviews. I really just want you guys to tell me what you think. Thanks again!**


	10. I'm coming with you, Stupid!

**Hey wonderful readers. Sorry it has been so long. My life has drastically changed in the past few weeks so I have had little time to write. Whats new, you may ask. Well, College is new. I have been here for exactly a week and it keeps getting better and better.**

**I hope you enjoy it!**

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I waited until I could hear everyone around me sleeping. Once they all stopped trying to get comfortable and their breathing became slow and rhythmic, I knew I was in the clear.

I quietly got up from my spot on the ground and slowly walked around the sleeping bodies of my friends. I felt terrible about leaving them here, and even worse for not telling them where I was going. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be to hard for them to figure it out, though. And, anyway, they'll know that I've only left them because I had no other choice.

Once I got past the sleeping Fishlegs, my path was clear. I could see Toothless asleep near the other two dragons about one hundred feet away. My plan was to wake him up, silently I hope, and fly back to the carnivorous clearing without anybody noticing I was gone. I was going to get my mother out of that dangerous place and take her back to Berk, where she belongs.

I still couldn't believe it. She was alive and on the island. How had she survived? While waiting for the others to fall asleep, I had come up with a theory that explained everything. My dad had said that a terrible sea serpent had taken her away, right? Well, I knew for a fact that the majority of sea serpents, or sea dragons, could fly as well as swim. I believe that the dragon had grabbed her with its claws and had taken her under; only to emerge out of sight from the ship my dad was on. As it was carrying her through the sky, probably on its way to the real dragon nest to feed her to the Green Death, she loosened herself from the grasp of the dragon.

I have studied many of the maps my dad had used for all of his dragon hunting expeditions, including the one he had used the day my mom had disappeared. The part of the ocean where the calm water was is on one side of Berk, while the island the Green Death inhabited was on the other. She must have freed herself while the dragon was passing close to Berk, close enough for her to swim ashore safely.

The only hitch in my theory is that, since she has been on the island this whole time, why had she never come home?

I pushed that thought into the back of my mind when I reached Toothless. I nudged him softly and saw his eyes slightly open. "Hey, Bud. You and I are going to go on a little adventure." His eyes opened wider and he sat up and looked at me. Then he glanced over to where I had left my friends sleeping. I could tell he was wondering why I was the only one awake. "It's just going to be you and me. They are all staying here."

He gave me an displeased look. He thought it was a bad idea, I could tell. "Listen, Toothless, I have to go find my mom. If the others knew what I was planning on doing, they wouldn't allow it. Now just cooperate with me, please. This really means a lot to me." He seemed to understand where I was coming from, but I am pretty sure that if that dragon could talk, he would have said, "They wouldn't let you go for a good reason. Forget about it."

"Toothless, please. I am begging you…"

"What do you think you are doing?" a voice said from behind me. "I am giving you until the count of three to step away from that dragon." I turned around. Astrid was standing a few feet behind me. I hadn't even heard her.

"Astrid, listen…"

"One…"

"I have to get back to that clearing…"

"Two…"

"I have to find my mom…"

She looked at me in disbelief. "Hiccup, you were the one telling us to all stay together. You told us to stay away from the forest and that we had to wait out the night before we could fly back to town."

"I know, but I have to go. It's important," I insisted.

"You want to get your mother back. I get that. But it would be incredibly dangerous and completely stupid to try to do it on your own. What if something happened to you, huh? Who would be there for your dad then? He would have lost both his wife and his son. He would be alone." Then she added, "I wouldn't be too happy either."

My heart started beating faster. Did she just say she would miss me if something happened to me? I know, I know, it isn't the same as her saying "I love you," or even just "I like you," but it is as close as I have ever heard.

"I mean," she continued after I failed to say anything, "if you died, I would be…. well…sad…or something."

"Or something?" I smirked.

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean." She blushed.

"Listen, Astrid, I know it is dangerous, and probably really stupid, but I have to. What if I can save my mom and bring her back to Berk? Imagine how happy my dad would be. How proud…."

"Hiccup, your dad is already proud of you for every thing you have done for Berk. Doing this won't make him anymore proud, I promise you that. Honestly, he would probably be more proud if you waited for his and all of the other Vikings' help."

"Astrid, I understand what you are trying to say, and I get that you are just trying to make sure I don't do anything I will regret. The thing is, I have to do this."

"No you don't," she said with a pleading expression on her face.

"Yes. Yes I do." I quickly jumped on Toothless's back, thankful now that I had left his saddle on. I urged him to take off, and, to my surprise, he did.

"Oh, no you don't." I heard Astrid say below us. "Not without me!" I looked behind me and saw Astrid start running after us.

"Fly! Toothless, Fly!" I shouted but before I could get the last word out, Astrid launched herself into the air and yelled, "Toothless, now!"

It took me a second to realize what had just happened, but our sudden loss of altitude made me realize. Toothless had caught Astrid in his claws and she was now hanging below him. "Toothless, land!" I ordered, but instead of landing on the beach as I expected, he set us down in a tall pine tree. He placed Astrid on the branch below us while I stayed in the saddle and glared at her.

"What are you doing?' I said furiously.

"I'm coming with you."

"No way! It's way too dangerous."

"That is what I have been trying to tell you this whole time, but you are still going. I can't let you go alone." she said, glaring back at me.

"This is ridiculous. There is no way you are coming. Come on, Toothless, take us back down to the beach."

He didn't react.

"Toothless, now!" Still nothing.

"He agrees that you should not go alone," Astrid said looking fondly at the dragon. "I don't think he will listen to you."

I looked down at the dragon. "This isn't funny, Toothless. She could get hurt, or worse." He didn't so much as look at me. I looked back at Astrid. "You could get killed!"

"I'm a Viking. It's an occupational hazard," she said as she pulled herself up to our branch and got in the saddle behind me.

"I can't believe you are making me do this."

"Ahh. I know that you love me for being so demanding and stubborn."

"Well, I don't think that's the reason…" I cut myself off. Did I really just say that out loud?

"Wait," Astrid said. "What?"

Thor almighty!

"Uhhh…Fly, Toothless?" He leapt of the branch and into the air. Thankfully he was flying fast enough for wind to completely fill our ears, making talking impossible.

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	11. I Lied

** Hey reader, If you are still there. Sorry it has been so long. I hope this chapter makes up for it. Because of College, i will probably not update to frequently, but i will try not to have giant gaps of time in between chapters like i did this time. Also a way to get me to update faster is to leave reviews. They are the reason i decided to update today so they do really work. Anyway, here is chapter eleven. I hope you enjoy it.**

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We didn't talk the whole flight. It had obviously gotten very awkward very quickly back there, so I think we were both trying to recover.

I don't know why I can't just tell her how I feel. I was the first Viking to tame a dragon. I was the first to ride one. I was also the first Viking to ever stand up to my Dad. All of those tasks were dangerous and took a lot of courage. If I could handle doing all of that, surely I could handle talking to a girl, right? But Astrid is not just a girl. She is the most amazing person I have ever met. She is smart, brave, strong, and absolutely gorgeous. All of these qualities combined make her the most intimidating girl in the world.

Honestly, I thought that after I had defeated the Green Death, when she had kissed me, we would be together. I thought that was her telling me that she liked me as much as I liked her. Turns out that was not what she meant. I had asked her about it after wards and she told me that it really didn't mean anything.

"I was just really relieved that you woke up and were okay," she told me. "I mean, you didn't think it was because I liked you, did you?"

"Oh, no. Of course not! That would have been silly," I had replied, my heart sinking.

"Good, because we are friends, right?"

"Yeah, friends." I should have let the Green death kill me while I had the chance. I couldn't believe it. I had liked this girl for, like, ever and here she was saying that the only reason she kissed me was because she was happy I wasn't dead. Because we were "friends".

Lately, though, it seems like something has changed. Sometimes I catch her looking at me. Like the six of us will be eating at our table in the dining hall and I will look down the table to where she is sitting and find her staring at me. When she realizes I have caught her, she turns away fast and won't make eye contact with me for a while, like she is embarrassed or something. And then when we all go out flying, and she will fly right next to me.

We have even started hanging out more outside dragon training. My dad has even started teasing me about how Astrid and I have become as inseparable as Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Somehow, I don't think our relationship is the brother and sister kind. I think something else has been developing.

I do think she has started to like me as more than a friend, so shouldn't I be able to tell her I feel the same?

Ugh! Give me a giant dragon any day. I would rather kill a thousand Green deaths than tell her how I feel.

"Hiccup?" I jump at the sound of Astrid's voice. Oh, gods, she knows what I am thinking about.

"Hiccup, we are getting close to the clearing. I think we should stop before we get there and come up with a plan." Oh, thank Odin!

"Yeah! Yeah! Good idea!" I see a tree with a sturdy branch that is high enough for us to land on and angle Toothless towards it. He lands gracefully on the branch.

"So, I am hoping that you came up with a plan before you were just going to leave us," Astrid says.

"Oh, well, I just thought that…. I was going to…um…"

"You didn't have a plan! You were just going to go to the clearing with no plan at all? Hiccup, there is no way you would be that stupid!" She looked furious.

"I know, I know. It's just… I thought that I would get here and just know what to do. I didn't want to wait longer than I had to and that meant not waiting until I had a plan."

"You know how important having a plan is. You should be the last person I should have to lecture about this. You are usually the one who always has a plan. If you were Snotlout, I would understand, but you are you! Thank goodness I came with you. You could be dead right now."

"I think you're over reacting," I said. "I fought the Green Death without a completely thought-through plan. I came up with the one I had on the spot and it turned out fine."

"You lost your foot!" she pointed out.

"Well, mostly fine."

"Hiccup, that was just luck. There is no way I am letting you walk into that clearing without a fool-proof plan."

"Astrid, come on," I pleaded. "I have to get to my mom. I can't waste anymore time." I was about to order Toothless to take off, but then I felt Astrid's hand on my shoulder.

"Hiccup," she said in a quiet, somewhat sympathetic voice. "Please. Please think this through. If you don't take a second and think this through, you could die." She stopped for a second, looked down, and took a deep breath. She looked back up and looked straight into my eyes. "I need to tell you something. Remember when you killed the Green Death and lost your foot?"

"Uhh, yes," I said, confused.

"Well, remember when you woke up after that and I, well, I might have…"

"…kissed me."

She blushed. "Yeah. And then remember when you asked me if it had meant anything."

"And you told me that it was just because you were happy I wasn't dead." Yes of course I remember, I was just thinking about this painful memory.

"Yes, well…I just want you to know, I lied." She looked down again so that she didn't have to make eye contact with me.

"Wait," I said, really confused. "What?"

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Then she looked up and suddenly her lips were on mine. And just as suddenly, it was over.

"I lied. It did mean something." She looked into my eyes, and I looked into hers. "Please think this through. For me. I don't want you to get hurt because I am in love with you."

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